targeted campaigns at kansas state university · 2019-10-24 · campaign prepare staff run campaign...

©2016 The Advisory Board Company • eab.com

Targeted Campaigns at Kansas State University April 27, 2017

Student Success Campus


2 Proactive, Strategic Intervention

Traditional, Passive Advising Proactive & Strategic Advising

Students At Risk

Students Receiving General Support

Students Receiving Tailored Support

Students At Risk

Campaigns focus outreach and advising efforts on a subpopulation with a shared academic risk factor and clear intervention path


3

Leveraging the Network for Proactive Campaigns

The “Coordinated Care Network”

Academic Support

Advisors

Financial Aid

Tutoring

Case Referrals

Proactive Campaigns SSC

Advisors manage cases and triage care

Analytics prioritize cases based on need

Support offices provide specialized interventions

Better advice More targeted outreach

Feedback loops continuously improve system


4 What is a Campaign?

1

Focus

Focus in on one of your institution’s areas of greatest opportunity for improvement

Resources:

• Institution Reports • EAB Best-Practice Research

2

Identify

Create a list of students with target attributes of your target population

Resources:

• Advanced Search • Watch Lists

3

Contact

Send proactive outreach to students to establish contact and encourage action

Resources:

• CSV Exportation • Campaign Toolkit

4

Intervene

Meet with students and provide tailored advising support to this population’s shared needs

Resources:

• Student Profiles • Risk Analysis & Major Explorer

5

Follow Up

Follow up on student progress and track campaign outcomes

Resources:

• Notes & Interaction Tracking


5

ETSU Re-Enrollment Campaign Targets High-Credit Seniors for Quick Win

Simple and Effective

East Tennessee State University

• 11,820 students

• Public Research University

• 41% overall graduation rate

Campaign Results

Targeted students advised

Students re-enrolled in Fall 2014 coursework

Estimated Tuition Revenue

30%

13

$50K+

Challenge

• Finding high-credit, unenrolled students that may have lost momentum, which was difficult before SSC

• Getting a quick win to demonstrate the value of proactive advising through the SSC platform

Solution

Design Campaign

Prepare Staff

Run Campaign

Debrief and Assess

Dedicated consultant and leadership team selected campaign parameters, protocols, and solicited participants

Campaign advisors met to review protocols, make plans, and ask questions

Advisors ran an outreach campaign for 127 students with at least 100 credits and a GPA greater than 2.0 that had not enrolled in Spring or Summer 2014

Program leadership team hosted a debrief meeting to discuss lessons learned and analyze outcomes


6

Platform Training

Virginia Commonwealth University Case Study

Challenge: VCU has steadily improved its first-year retention rate in recent years, but wanted to focus on increasing four- and six-year graduation rates. To meet this goal, decentralized advisors needed a new, shared approach to identifying and addressing the needs of less obviously at-risk populations, particularly after the first year.

Encouraging Proactive Interventions with Unique Populations of At-Risk Students

Consultant and SSC Leaders teach strategic

platform usage and connect campaign development to

institutional goals

SSC Campaign Toolkit supports

standardized approach while

encouraging advisor creativity

Campaign Design

Clear expectations, focus, and support

result in 12 campaigns run by 40+ advisors in 7 programs across the

University

Campus Leadership

Virginia Commonwealth University

• Richmond, VA

• 23,700 Undergraduates

• Classification: Very High Research

• 86% Retention Rate

• 59% Graduation Rate

• Joined SSC in 2013


7

Campaigns Impact Key Micro Metrics on the Path to Persistence

Generating Diverse Campaigns and Outcomes

Population & Intervention Student Outcome Campaign Type

34% 1

Academic Performance Improvement

Connect Business School students on probation to needed support resources

Percentage of students who raised GPA above 2.0

2 Major Selection Assist high-risk Undeclared students with major planning and declaration

19 Additional students enrolled in Education and Career Planning course

Graduation Application

5 Remind qualified seniors to apply for graduation 19%

Increase in graduation candidates compared to spring 2014

25 Upper-class students enrolled in gatekeeper statistics course

Accelerating Degree Completion

4

Assist underperforming psychology students with course sequencing

3 Transfer Persistence

Facilitate academic planning for low-GPA transfer Biology students

8% Eight percentage points higher persistence than previous year cohort


8

Appointment Campaign Demo Training Site: kstatesports.campus-training.eab.com

• Campaign Availability

• Uploading a Watch List

• Sample Appointment Campaign


9 Step 1: Focus

Example: Murky Middle Finance Majors

Mid-career Finance majors with moderate GPAs but high risk predictions and at least one missed Success Marker. Students in this math-intensive major may need help to succeed but might not realize it yet. They still have time to make significant changes.

1. Contact all identified students at least three times to encourage them to initiate an advising session

2. Schedule an individual advising session with at least 75 percent of identified students

3. Connect 50 percent of students with the tutoring center or other resources to work on their academic standing

4. Reduce these students’ risk of dropping out

Objectives: This campaign will…

Articulate Campaign Objectives for Target Population

Choose specific campaign objectives in coordination with institutional and professional goals

Find areas for opportunity for what populations to target by combining your first-person experience and institutional student success data – these are places where your interventions will have great impact! From there, define your campaign by choosing a handful of specific campaign objectives.


10

Select ≤6 Metrics Ranging From Immediate Actions to Long-Term Outcomes

Choose Ways to Measure Your Success

What is the initial action you will

take to kick off the campaign?

What do you hope students immediately

do in response to your outreach?

What behavior or action do students

need to take as a result of the campaign?

What is the impact you hope to see with

this group in one term or one year?

Examples:

• Outreach emails • Follow-up calls

Examples:

• Response rate • % advised in person

Resource: List of Common Campaign Metrics

Examples:

• Declare major • Attend tutoring

Examples:

• Improve GPA • Obtain scholarship


11

Identify Students in Your Target Population

Step 2: Identify

Export

Export your list from the SSC platform for additional tracking and analysis if desired

Select

Determine the filters to apply that will identify this student population

Save

Save your list as a ‘Watch List’ in order to monitor throughout the length of your campaign

Pinpointing Current Students You Want to Target for Intervention

Following objective setting, identify the students included in your target population by selecting the parameters in SSC that will define this population.

Generate

Use the filters in the SSC Advanced Search to understand which students will be part of the targeted outreach


12 SSC Advanced Search Filters

Common Filters for Campaigns

• Grade/Enrollment in a course

• Term GPA

• Cumulative GPA

• Advisor

• College/major/concentration

• Credit completion %

• Credits earned

• Term enrollment

• Transfer Student

• Risk level

• Success markers missed

Using the SSC Platform to Generate Focused Lists

Can’t generate your selected population with just the filters?

Use the ‘Upload a List’ functionality in SSC

• Put all student IDs in column 1 of an Excel file

• Save it as a .csv

• Upload the list by going to the ‘Watch List’ section of SSC

• Save as new or existing Watch List!

Check that your parameters generate a manageable number of students. We recommend 30 to 75 students.


13

Planning Your Communication Strategy

Step 3: Contact

Share

Consider sharing your strategies with others on campus

Determine

How frequently and in what way you will contact targeted students?

Identify

Slate out next steps you will need to take to follow up with these students and ensure campaign impact

Defining an Effective Outreach Strategy

Now that you have the students, the next step is to determine how you will outreach to them to meet your objectives.

Articulate

Prepare the messages you want to communicate and resources you want to provide at each interaction


14 Outreach Strategy

Suggested Outreach Frequency

In successful previous campaigns, advisors outreached to students 3 to 5 times over a one or two month period of the semester

Phone Call

Week

1

2

3

Example Timeline

Targeted Email #1

Targeted Email #2

Follow Up Email

Advising Sessions

6


15

University Communications Getting Lost in Students’ Inboxes

Students Don’t Always Read Emails

Source: Nielsen, “Mobile millennials: Over 85% of Generation Y owns smartphones,” September 2014; Inside Higher Ed, “Study explores impact of social media, texting on email use,” March 2016; EAB interviews and analysis.

University Email Tends to Be:

85% Of 18-24 year olds own a smartphone

Results of BGSU Communications Survey (315 students)

54% Of respondents said they don’t always read emails from the university or academic departments

39% Of respondents said they don’t always open emails from their advisors

…But Read and Respond Selectively

Millennials Can Check Email Anywhere…

Passive Emails do not require action, or merely direct students to self-service portals

Generic Impersonal e-mails are easy to ignore and contribute to “white noise”

Wrong voice and tone Language in messages is often unfriendly and administrative

Not mobile-responsive Emails not designed to be read on a smartphone appear clunky, confusing


16

Effective Messages Are Student-Centered and Student-Friendly

Write for Your Audience

Student-Centered Copy

“I care about your success and noticed that your math midterm grade is not up to standards for the Business School, which you want to apply for next semester. You should schedule an appointment with the tutoring center.”

Tone Should Focus on Students and Their Goals, Not Rules or Policies

Impersonal Copy

“Whitehouse University cares about your success and offers a number of resources for students in need of additional support. Students have found the tutoring center to be critical in improving their GPA for admission into certain selective programs.”

Tool: “Higher Ed Jargon Reduction Exercise” on eab.com

Reduce multisyllabic words

“Exempted”

Translate jargon

“Non-credit-bearing”

Remove passive voice

“If you are contacted by your advisor”

50% Increase in response rate (Royall recruitment campaign)

Language Should Be Clear to All Students (Including ESL)

Ensure readability

The Gunning Fog Index is an online tool to assess the grade-level of a given text

“Do not need to”

“Does not count for credit”

“If your advisor contacts you”

Source: EAB interviews and analysis.


17

A Good First Impression Drives Higher Open Rates

Make Your Subject Line Do More Work

Catchy Oops—you missed your

registration deadline!

Direct Concerned about your midterm

grades

Urgent URGENT: Your academic plan

Authoritative Next steps to get you back on

track

Conversational Let’s chat about chemistry

Mysterious You qualify for a new program!

Guiding How to improve your GPA

at the Tutoring Center

Action-oriented Schedule some time with

me this week

Questioning Is there a reason you haven’t

registered yet?

+7.5%

+1.7%

-0.6%

+1.5%

Insights from Out-of-Industry

Mixpanel Analysis of 85,637 Subject Lines

Nine Effective Approaches

Adapted from Advisory Board’s Internal Guidelines

13.5% Benchmark open rate for 1.7 billion emails

Subject line less than 30 characters

Subject line more than 30 characters

Subject line includes a “?”

Subject line includes “How to…”

Change in Open Rate

Source: Megahan, J. “Why do people open emails?” Mixpanel Blog. July 2016; EAB interviews and analysis.


18

Making your outreach personal

Step 4: Intervene

Document

Relevant information should be documented for reference

Diagnose

What issues is this student facing? The answer might be “none,” and that’s OK

Act

It’s now time for students to take the next step based on your interactions

Connecting Students With The Right Resources

After your meeting, it is now up to you to direct the student down the most appropriate path. Make sure you document this for your campaign tracking!

Direct

After diagnosis, direct that student towards the appropriate action


19

Tracking student outcomes to ensure success

Step 5: Follow-up

Share Your Results

Share your results with other advisors in your campaign, the Dean of your department, etc.

Communicate

Seek to reestablish contact with the student within two weeks of your meeting

Analyze

Based on the metrics you set, did you achieve your goal? If not, how close did you come?

Quantifying The Success Of Your Efforts

After intervention, you must now follow-up with students to confirm action has been taken and a positive result has occurred.

Record Your Results

Document results in either a note or tracker


20

Additional Approaches to Targeted Outreach Sample Practices from Other Institutions


21

Developing a Coordinated Month-by-Month Outreach Strategy

Year-Round Monitoring at UNE

Source: EAB interviews and analysis.

1 Developed by and for Advisors To build broad buy-in, the calendar was developed by a cross-institutional group of advisors blending university-wide and unit-level campaign priorities

2

Fall 2015 Campaign Calendar

Final Result Distributed Widely A team leader created and distributed to all advisors an official month-by-month calendar to increase visibility and promote coordination

3

Needs Balanced Against Capacity Advisors intentionally chose campaigns that would address specific student needs at times of the semester when advisors have capacity for proactive work

Risk Factors

Creating an Institution-Wide Plan for Just-in-Time Communication

• Resource recommendations for incoming students

AUG

• Registration reminders NOV

• Outreach to students not registered for spring

DEC

• High-risk student outreach • Degree planning invitations

SEP

• Withdrawal process awareness • Midterm exam reminders • Responses to midterm grades

OCT


22

Faculty Highly Receptive to “Micro-Campaigns” as a Way to Scale Support

Introducing the “Micro-Campaign” from IUP

Designed

AVP of Student Success met with 7 pilot teams to design campaigns

Executed

Faculty executed campaigns using SSC resources

Manageable

A campaign list of less than 10 students is not daunting, especially with available SSC templates and resources

Immediate Impact

Faculty see positive results within a matter of weeks, building trust in SSC and a more proactive approach

Humanizing

Faculty can feasibly connect with and mentor each individual student in the campaign

Why Micro-Campaigns Work

April 1, 2015

A micro-campaign is a targeted advising campaign that is:

• Short-term 6 weeks or shorter

• Small-scale 15 students or fewer

Evaluated

AVP sent survey to faculty in May to collect feedback and results

Indiana Univ. of Pennsylvania’s Pilot Micro-Campaigns

May 1, 2015


23

Resources for Targeted Campaigns


24 Toolkit Resources for Campaigns

Toolkit: Designing and Implementing a Targeted

Advising Campaign

Toolkit: Measuring Campaign Effectiveness


25

Easy to Generate Campaigns that Pack a Big Punch

Infographic Resources for Campaigns

eab.com/SSCCampaignIdeas

Most Common Campaigns Across Collaborative

• GPA campaigns

• Probation

• “Murky Middle”

• Top Performers

• Registration campaigns

• Stop outs

• Not enrolled for next semester

• Major switching campaigns

• Undecided past a credit threshold

• Pre majors who may need parallel plan


26 Additional Resources for Campaigns

Tracker: Campaign Tracker Template

Resource: Example Campaign Calendar


27

Working Session: Planning Your Next Campaign


28 Campaign Brainstorming

Identifying Your Target Population & Campaign Goals

• Examine the student populations that you/your office serves:

• What are the highest-need groups that are not being engaged through current advising practices but would benefit from strategic outreach/intervention?

• What populations align with unit or institution strategic goals?

• What student groups could serve as quick-wins?

• When are key times during the academic semester when targeted outreach is needed?

• What are the needs of these students?

• What type of intervention/support would these students benefit from?

• What are your desired outcomes for working with these populations?

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targeted campaigns at kansas state university · 2019-10-24 · campaign prepare staff run campaign...

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